Showing 1-24 of 24 results
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Bab Bhar
Bab Bhar, also called the Porte de France or French Gate, is a huge freestanding arch that was the medina's eastern gateway until the surrounding walls were demolished by the French to create place de la Victoire. Note rue des Glaciéres, leading off to the north - this is where huge blocks of Alpine ice for sale were stored in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Clock Tower
Resembling a much younger cousin of London's Big Ben, a burnished metal clock tower forms a glimmering landmark towards the western end of ave Habib Bourguiba. It was erected to commemorate Independence Day (7 November).
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Dar el-Bey
Dar el-Bey was the Husseinite rulers' city pad, but the beys (provincial governors) preferred the Bardo, so it was used as an official guest house until 1881, when the French arrived.
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Dar Lasram
Dar Lasram is a magnificent mansion. From the 18th century, the Lasram family provided the beys (provincial governors) with scribes. Today it's home to the Association de Sauvegarde de la Medina, who oversee medina conservation. The interior has magnificent intensely tiled rooms and courtyards, and medina maps, plans and photographs.
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Dar Othman
Dar Othman was built by Othman Dey in the early 17th century. His business - piracy - was obviously lucrative, and he also happened to be Governor of Tunis. The palace is a wonderful example of period architecture, distinguished by its exuberantly busy façade. Some rooms are now offices (some to the Conservation de la Medina organisation), but you are welcome to visit the courtyards. The unusual interior garden was planted in 1936.
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French Embassy Building
Grand structures such as the French embassy, built in 1856, were designed for the colonial power to assert its authority.
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Hamuda Pasha Mosque
There are mosques all over the medina; interiors are off-limits to non-Muslims. The finest include Hamuda Pasha Mosque, a 17th-century, harmonious, richly decorated building that reflects the prosperity of the times. Its witch's-hat minaret is octagonal - typical of the Turkish Hanefite strand of Islam.
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Hôtel Majestic
Fabulously ornate façades dot the city. Supreme examples include the Hôtel Majestic, a splendid almost-edible confection - currently closed for renovation though not a lot seems to be happening.
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Kasbah Mosque
There are mosques all over the medina; interiors are off-limits to non-Muslims. The finest include Kasbah Mosque, which dates from 1235 and was once within the Hafsid citadel, which no longer stands. The minaret's lozenge design pays tribute to Moroccan style, purposefully showing the Hafsid's links with the Almohad strand of Islam. It was hugely influential, serving as a model for the Zaytouna Mosque minaret. The call to prayer is quietly signalled by a white flag.
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Main Post Office Building
Grand structures such as the neoclassical main post office, built in 1893, were designed for the colonial power to assert its authority.
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Medersa Bachia
Medersas are schools for study of the Quran. They declined in the late 19th century when broader education came into vogue. Fine examples - mostly still used as schools - are clustered around the Zaytouna Mosque. The 1752 Medersa Bachia has what was once a small public fountain beside the entrance. Also constructed by Ali Pasha, it now houses an artisans' school.
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Medersa Mouradia
Medersas are schools for study of the Quran. They declined in the late 19th century when broader education came into vogue. Fine examples - mostly still used as schools - are clustered around the Zaytouna Mosque. With an ornately studded door, the Medersa Mouradia was built in 1673 by Mourad II, son of Husseinite bey Ali Pasha, on the ruins of a Turkish barracks destroyed during a rebellion. It's used to train apprentices in traditional crafts.
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Medersa Palmier
Medersas are schools for study of the Quran. They declined in the late 19th century when broader education came into vogue. Fine examples - mostly still used as schools - are clustered around the Zaytouna Mosque. Medersa Palmier, still a Quranic school, was constructed in 1714 on the site of a funduq (travellers' inn) and named after a long-gone tree. Identify it by its yellow studded door.
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Medersa Slimania
Medersas are schools for study of the Quran. They declined in the late 19th century when broader education came into vogue. Fine examples - mostly still used as schools - are clustered around the Zaytouna Mosque. Ali Pasha built Medersa Slimania in 1754, a marvel of stucco and tiling, to commemorate his son Suleiman, poisoned by his brother. Once a Quranic school for girls, it now houses an association of former students.
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Medina
Once the medina was Tunis, founded by the Arabs in the 7th century. Nowadays, to go from the new town into its closely knit streets, packed with generations of palaces and monuments, is to enter a different world. It's a Unesco World Heritage site.
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Mosque of Sidi Mahres
There are mosques all over the medina; interiors are off-limits to non-Muslims. The finest include Mosque of Sidi Mahres, built in 1692 and named after Tunis' patron saint, who saved the city after it was captured by Abu Yazd during a rebellion against Fatimid rule in AD 944. He also allowed Jews to settle within the walls, and reorganised the souqs. His tomb lies opposite the entrance, in the Zaouia of Sidi Mahres.
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Mosque of the Dyers
There are mosques all over the medina; interiors are off-limits to non-Muslims. The finest include Mosque of the Dyers, built in 1716 by Hussein ben Ali, founder of the Husseinite line of beys (provincial governors). It has an adjoining medersa (Quranic school), and an Ottoman octagonal minaret. Hussein buried two holy men in the mausoleum, leaving a space between them for his own tomb, but his nephew Ali Pasha drove him from power and buried his own father in Hussein's spot.
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Mosque of Youssef Dey
There are mosques all over the medina; interiors are off-limits to non-Muslims. The finest include Mosque of Youssef Dey, Tunis' first Ottoman-style mosque (1616), designed by Andalusian architect Ibn Ghalib in a colourful mishmash of styles. It was surrounded by Turkish souqs - El-Trouk (tailors), El-Berka (slaves) and El-Bechamkia (slippers) and catered to the Turkish traders.
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National Library
The National Library, once a barracks, was built in 1814 by Hamouda Bey to house Berber soldiers who'd been recruited after an Ottoman mutiny.
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National Theatre
Fabulously ornate façades dot the city. Supreme examples include the Art Nouveau National Theatre, built by the French in 1902, which has a meringue-sculpted frontage that looks as if you could crack it off and eat it.
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Sahib El-Tabía Mosque
Sahib El-Tabía Mosque dates from the 19th century, when Halfouine was an emerging fashionable quarter. It forms part of Tunis' only külliye - a medersa , souq, hammam (public bathhouse) and tomb complex. It's almost Venetian looking; the railings and black marble were imported from the continent. The minaret was only added in 1970.
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Ville Nouvelle
The Ville Nouvelle is an entirely different city from the medina, with tall shuttered windows, wrought-iron balconies, cafés and pâtisseries. There are some fine examples of colonial architecture, ranging from the exuberant to the bizarre.
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Zaouia Sidi Kacem Ezzilizi
Zaouia Sidi Kacem Ezzilizi is the tomb of an Andalusian craftsman who's credited with bringing tile-making to Tunis. The restored building contains some beautiful Tunisian ceramics, ranging from medieval to modern.
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Zaytouna Mosque
Everything in the medina leads to or from the Zaytouna Mosque. Zaytouna means 'olive tree' - it's said the founder, Hassan Ibn Nooman, conqueror of Byzantine Carthage, used to hold lessons under a tree here.
Showing 1-24 of 24 results
